It was amongst the pile, squeezed down the side with the race numbers from the 1980 Milk Race and the 1976 Scottish Milk Race. Bursting at the seams, the cardboard Chiquita banana box overflowed with memories from another time. If a picture can tell a thousand words, then this stage winner’s cap from the 1984 Coors Classic could tell you so much more.
“We were sitting around the dinner table that night,” remembers Jack. “We’d all heard about Afghanistan, but we didn’t really know too much about the politics.”
Jack Swart had made the selection to represent New Zealand at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the core of the road squad riding the Milk Race as a preparation event, just as many of the other amateurs were doing. The two-week British stage race was one of the premier races for amateurs at that time, and with previous winners going on to win Olympic gold (Kuiper won both the Milk Race and Olympics in ’72, Johansson the Milk Race in ’75 then the Olympics in ‘76) it was also considered the perfect opportunity to size up your Olympic opponents.
The evening after a team time trial stage New Zealand coach Ron Cheatley received a phone call in their Llandudno hotel from the Secretary of the New Zealand Amateur Cycling Association. “They were handing on a message from Muldoon’s office [The NZ Prime Minister at that time],” remembers Cheatley. “They told us that New Zealand was withdrawing from the Games and we were expected to come home.”
In protest at the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan the United States had announced they would boycott the Moscow Olympic Games. New Zealand was one of over sixty countries which followed suit. Gutted, Jack Swart would now have to wait another four years for his chance to ride in the Olympics.
From Good Stock
Esta historia es de la edición Issue 22 de Conquista - The Cycling Quarterly.
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Esta historia es de la edición Issue 22 de Conquista - The Cycling Quarterly.
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Bathers-In Buenos Aires' Fountain Of Youth
Three or four times a week I ride my bike down to Circuito KDT to train on its car-free track.
Bordeaux Paris
Bordeaux-Paris was one of the last links to professional road cycling’s dustiest origins. The version that died in 1988 was a pale shadow of what was once arguably the greatest race of all – a race which also gave us perhaps the greatest feat in the sport’s history, courtesy of Jacques Anquetil.
Casquette
Jack Swart is one of the all-time greats of New Zealand road racing. His many triumphs in stage races saw him bafflingly pigeonholed by the national selectors, meaning he missed out on many one-day opportunities. But that wasn’t the only source of frustration in his career.
Briefings
One of our all-time favourite riders, we asked Ramunas some tough questions – and he obliged:
Los Reyes Y Sus Hijas Presiden La Fiesta Nacional
La Princesa Leonor y la Infanta Sofía, ya dos auténticas señoritas, se convirtieron en las protagonistas en una cita a la que no faltan cada año
Post Card From The Peak
The Isle of Skye is the greatest climb in England.
